Cupcake Nation
by FeatherxxDreams
Summary: It's nice when things work out the way you want them to. It's nicer when they don't. When Tim's exboyfriend gets hired as the stand-in baker so Stephanie can go on maternity leave, things promise to get very interesting at Cupcake Nation, especially since everyone seems to be trying to set them up. - JayTim, JaimeCullen, Bakery AU. (4/?)
1. Mojito

**Notes:** Spanish is not a language I am familiar with, so all of my translations are coming from SpanishDict (the website). If anything is wrong or anyone is open to helping me translate a little dialogue for Jaime, I would be very grateful if you let me know!

* * *

"We should start selling these. Oh my god, we_ need _to sell these," Cullen moans as he hoards three more cookie dough bites. "It's like an orgasm on a stick. Can we legally sell these, because if we can't, I'm totally okay with taking the risk."

Stephanie makes an indecipherable sound, presumably of agreement. Even Damian seems to be enjoying the treat, considering he's eaten at least ten and doesn't appear to be stopping any time soon. Tim scowls at the table top, refusing to eat one.

"Come on, Tim," Jason goads from where he's leaning against the counter, "Just try one."

"No." Tim is _not_ pouting. He is not upset that he seems to be the only one averse to hiring Jason as head baker while Stephanie is on maternity leave. He's just refusing to taste test Jason's dessert (mostly because he knows that if he does, he'll cave).

"Tim, come on, stop being such a party pooper," Stephanie sticks out her bottom lip and hunches her shoulders, "You said you'd let me pick my stand-in and I want to pick Jason."

"The other guy has more experience." Tim replies, ducking his head to avoid her glare.

"So maybe he does," Jason drawls, "Does the other guy have a name?"

Tim raises his head to frown at Jason, "Just because I can't remember his name doesn't mean he's less adequate. If anything, it means _you _made a _bad_ impression."

Jason grins, "_Or_ you just don't want to admit that I impressed you because you're supposed to be _that_ guy."

"What guy?" Tim demands.

"I think we both know the guy I'm talking about." Jason waves a hand.

Their banter is interrupted by Jaime stringing together sensual sounding words in Spanish. "Tim, you must hire him. _Deberias_!"

Tim resists groaning in frustration. How can all of his employees be against him?

"Even I can see that Todd would be a useful addition to your team, Drake, and I don't even care about your shop."

"Gee, Damian, thanks." Tim makes sure his words leak sarcasm.

The Arabic boy shrugs, eating another cookie dough sphere.

"Think of it this way, Tim." Stephanie says, leaning back so her and Cassandra are shoulder to shoulder, "According to Twitter, Delicacies is hiring a new cook soon because they have so much business they need one. Do you think Richard would turn away someone with obvious talent if they bring in business?"

Tim hates it when she does that, "No." He grumbles.

"Exactly. And remind me again who our top competitor is in the city?"

"Delicacies."

"Run by a man who is evil in human form."

It remains unsaid that most of his evilness comes from his physical attributes. Richard Grayson could charm a nun away from a convent and turn a happily married man gay (which he probably has).

"Give him a trial period," Cass speaks up. "Until Stephanie leaves."

Jason grins at her, "Thank you."

Cass shakes her head, "Not for you. For business."

Jason shrugs, "Thanks anyway."

"You look like a criminal." Tim says petulantly.

"No I don't."

"You have a stupid haircut."

Jason raises an eyebrow.

"You look like you walked out of Grease."

"You're really grasping at straws here, aren't you?"

"You won't wear the uniform!" Tim snaps.

"It's a fucking _apron_, Tim. _Christ_!"

"Why don't you come to a compromise?" Stephanie suggests, "Is the apron the only part you won't wear?"

Jason grunts in confirmation.

"Alright, then. Either you at least wear the waist apron, or you wear a hairnet. Since technically your hair is short enough to bypass it, you have to choose between the two."

Jason crosses his arms, "Then I'll wear the apron."

"There." Stephanie turns to Tim, "Now hire him."

Tim wants to tell her that she isn't the boss of him, but honestly, Stephanie has put so much effort into the store that he can't say that without sounding hypocritical. "…you start on Monday at four. If you aren't here then, consider yourself fired."

His crew, with the exception of Damian, cheers and proceeds to congratulate Jason. Damian catches Tim's eye and gives him a look that Tim really doesn't want to see on his younger brother's face. It's that 'now-that-I've-hit-puberty-I-can-point-out-the-attractiveness-in-other-people-to-make-you-uncomfortable' look, and it's not like Tim needs Damian to tell him how attractive Jason Todd is. It was the second thing Tim noticed about him.

"You know where we should go to celebrate?" Cullen asks. "Delicacies."

They all groan at his obvious joke and Stephanie raps his shoulder with the closest menu.

After a few more minutes of joking around and visiting, they all start to trickle out of the shop towards home. Stephanie leaves with Cullen to give him a ride (his sister must have the car) leaving Jason with Damian and Tim.

Damian stands up, absorbed in his text-conversation with someone Tim pities, "I'll be in the car."

Tim waits for Damian to leave before getting up from his seat and grabbing all of the coffee mugs. He gives Jason a wide berth while he sets them on the other side of the counter to be cleaning in the morning.

"Should I be offended you don't want me here?"

Tim glances at him, "It's nothing personal, I'm just-"

"Not used to old boyfriends showing up as your employees. Could have fooled me, I thought you dated that Cullen kid after you broke up with me."

"I never dated Cullen," Tim snaps, "And no, to be honest, I'm not." He pinches the bridge of his nose, "Look, can we just…try to be civil? And not mention our history?"

Jason folds his arms, "I can do civil, that's not a problem for me. Can you do civil?"

"Of course I can." Tim frowns.

"Fine."

"Fine."

They hold each other's gaze before Tim drops his eyes, "Well get out of here so I can lock up."

Jason mock salutes, "Yessir."

Tim holds his breath until Jason is out the door. He sags against the counter, pushing his hair away from his eyes. He confirms to himself that, yes, he did let his team strong-arm him into hiring his ex-boyfriend, former-convict, mechanic-by-profession…er, man.

Tim takes a deep breath.

Monday morning was sure to be interesting.


	2. Pumpkin Spice

Stephanie moans as she finishes another sample of batter, "Jason, you are going to make my baby so fat!"

Jason chuckles as he eats more cookie dough off his spoon. The two of them are alone in the kitchen while the rest of the workers deal with the snack rush. Stephanie has been training him for the last three hours while they stock up on desserts. From what she tells him, the rushes are the only break they get. As soon as the crowds are gone, Cass will give them a list of what they need to replace they'll get back to baking.

"You know," She continues, "I've got to say I did not expect you to be able to cook when I interviewed you."

"I can't cook," Jason replies, swiping his finger through the batter Stephanie is hoarding and sticking it in his mouth, "I can bake. _Big_ difference."

"How'd you learn?" She asks. "I went to school for it but your application said you were a mechanic."

"I taught myself." Jason replies, "It's not hard to follow a recipe. Once I was good at that, I started tweaking them and before long I was making my own shit."

"Well I have to tip my hat to you," She mimes the action, "You have taught yourself very well."

Neither of them glance up when Cullen comes through the door. He hoists himself on the counter next to Stephanie and takes the bowl from her, "Ten minute reprieve. Someone is ordering a birthday cake."

"Oh god," Stephanie groans in disappointment. "I hate making birthday cakes. The kids in this city are little shits."

"It's for next week. Tim wants Jaime to make it so he gets practice doing it by himself."

"Speaking of Jaime, did I see him giving you a ride yesterday?" Stephanie teases.

"Harper had the car," Cullen flushes, "And he's a nice guy."

"_Ooo la la_~" Stephanie nudges his shoulder, "_Comment agréable parlons-nous_?"

"I have no idea what you just said," Cullen tells her, "but I am saying no."

"She's trying to ask how nice he is." Jason says in between bites of cookie dough.

"You can speak French?" Stephanie turns to him.

"I can speak a lot of languages." Jason shrugs, "It comes pretty naturally to me. _Wǒ néng shuō liúlì de zhōngguó. IK kan een beetje Nederlands spreken. Ich bin spricht fließend Deutsch_."

Stephanie stares at him, "What the hell?"

"I can speak Chinese and German pretty well but I don't know that much Dutch." Jason shrugs, "You pick things up where I live."

"Where do you live?" Cullen asks.

Before Jason can answer, Cass sticks her head in. "Back to work!"

Cullen hands Stephanie the bowl and slides off the counter, "As my lady commands." He follows Cass out the door.

Stephanie slides of the counter next, "Alright. I guess we should get back to work too. I'm going to teach you how to make our Pumpkin Trifles."

:::

When Tim clocks in, it's only an hour until close. Considering he's the owner, he doesn't necessarily have to be there every day but he wants to make sure that Jason is actually learning something given that it's only his fourth day.

Cullen is beginning his ritual of glaring at the door, hoping it will ensure no one comes in so he can get started on cleaning up the counters and boxing up the extra cupcakes to take home. Cass is sweeping the floors, always at the ready to get behind the counter if a customer comes in.

"Are they still in back?" He asks.

Cullen nods in response, not taking his eyes off the door.

Tim walks behind the counter towards the kitchen. The closer he gets, the more like pumpkin it smells. Tim can already guess what Stephanie was showing off today. When he pushes open the door, the scent of pumpkin hits him in full. The kitchen is several degrees warmer than the main room and Tim has to roll up his sleeves to his elbows. Stephanie is instructing Jason at the island how to decorate the whip cream on the top while she crushes graham cracker with a rolling pin.

Tim heads over to them, standing on the other side of the island. "How's it going?"

"Great," Stephanie smiles at him briefly, "Jason is a pretty quick learner. Did you know he can speak, like, four languages?"

"Yeah," Tim says shortly, "Are you selling these? It's almost closing time."

"No. We made enough for everyone to take them home." Stephanie replies. Jason stands, setting the pipet aside. He takes a handful of the graham crackers from Stephanie's cutting board and sprinkles them over the top of the Trifle.

"Great. Steph, if you want to head out as soon as you clean up?" Tim suggests in a way that isn't really a suggestion.

"Sure." Stephanie starts putting all of the Trifles on a circular tray. "Take these and put them on the counter out there." She instructs Jason.

He takes the tray with a wink and heads out the door. Stephanie turns to Tim with a wicked smile, "Did I make a good decision or what?"

"You mean, did you strong-arm me into a good decision or what?" Tim corrects lightly. "Speaking of decisions, I have a situation. Damian wants to start getting paid for helping, at least in tips."

"What's the situation then?" Stephanie moves to start cleaning up.

"He says if he doesn't, he's going to apply at Delicacies." Tim sighs at Stephanie's outraged expression, "So what do you think we should do?"

"That little…" She sighs "He's under eighteen, right? So we don't even have to pay him minimum wage."

"No, we don't."

"Then he can deal with thirty percent tips." Stephanie smirks.

"Thirty?"

"It was ten before I considered that would insult him."

Tim rubs his temples, "Today is not a good day."

Stephanie rubs his back, "It'll be okay. Go eat pumpkin flavored things."

"I'm half sick of pumpkin flavored things." Tim says.

Stephanie laughs, "Hey, you know that if I really thought you were against it, I wouldn't have pushed Jason as a candidate, right? I wouldn't have done that to you unless-"

"It's fine, Steph. It was a good decision," Tim leans against the counter, "That's why I have you here. To make sure at least some good decisions get made."

Stephanie takes a breath, looking around the kitchen, "Damn," She sighs, "I'm going to miss this place."

"I'm not letting you come back before you take your full leave," Tim warns, "You spend enough time here as it is, I don't want you to rush the only break you'll be getting."

Stephanie nudges his shoulder, "Yes, boss." She teases lightly. "You want me to leave now or stay a while?"

"You can leave," Tim tells her, "I need to talk to Jason anyway. He can clean up."

Stephanie rubs her stomach, "Thanks, Tim. See you tomorrow." She kisses his cheek platonically before heading out of the kitchen. Tim watches her go then turns back to the mess that covers the kitchen.

"Oh boy," He sighs. Well, Jason has his work cut out for him.

:::

"So how far along is Stephanie?"

Tim sets another glass on the drying rack, "Five months. I want her to get out of here by the end of the month so she isn't straining herself for the rest of her pregnancy."

Jason grunts as he wipes the counter down, focus torn between the two tasks. "She's giving it up?"

"Yeah, there's a couple that wants to adopt it, and Steph wants to give her baby its best chance."

"We keep saying 'it'," Jason points out, question hanging in the air.

"She doesn't know the gender. She doesn't want to. She thinks that will make it harder." Tim says, "Giving it up, I mean."

"I get that," Jason says. "I think she would be a good mom though."

"So do I," Tim admits, "But it's her choice. If she's not ready then it's best for the baby to have a loving home."

"Is she going for a closed adoption?"

"I don't think so, but I also don't imagine she'll be very present in the baby's life." Tim pushes the hair out of his eyes with his forearm. "Look, you can head out if you want. Things look pretty clean and I still have to finish paperwork."

Jason tosses his cleaning rag over Tim's head and into the soapy water, "Alright. Later."

Tim watches over his shoulder as Jason leaves, tossing his apron onto the counter by the door. Tim slumps back, rubbing his temples with soapy fingers. He finishes cleaning the kitchen relatively quickly, heading into his small office in the back of the store. He goes to the mini fridge he keeps behind his desk, hoping some of the iced coffee from earlier is still good enough to drink.

He opens the door to the fridge, pausing at the flute glass full of pumpkin trifle. A sticky note is attached to the glass with a scribbled note in familiar handwriting.

'_Don't work too hard.'_

Tim feels the nudges of something nostalgic at the edge of his mind but he pushes it away in favor of grabbing his cup of iced coffee from the bottom shelf.

He eats the dessert after.


	3. Macchiato

**Notes:** I wanted to wait to check with someone if my Spanish was correct but I got excited and just posted. If it's not, let me know and I'll change it.

* * *

"We have a problem," Damian announces as he comes in the shop. Cullen looks up from the register, raising an eyebrow at the younger male.

"Problem?" He asks.

Cass doesn't stop stocking the display case with the next batch of cupcakes but she tilts her head in their direction to listen in.

"Everybody needs to hear this." Damian says, folding his arms. It's unusual that he comes in to the shop so soon after school, especially if he doesn't have friends (minions?) trailing after him.

Cullen and Cass share a glance before Cullen stands up, "Alright. I'll get them."

A few minutes later, most of the crew is in the main room. Tim leans against the counter, hair tied back in a small ponytail meaning he's in the middle of paperwork. Jaime sways from one foot to the other, always in motion. Stephanie eases herself into a chair while Jason sits on one of the tables, slapping his dish rag over his shoulder.

"What's the big announcement, _hombrecillo_?" Jaime asks, cocking his head.

"I went by Delicacies after school-"

Cullen makes a gagging sound while Stephanie gasps her offense.

"-because Colin wanted to stop in," Damian continues over their grousing, "and I found out something bad."

"How bad?" Tim asks wearily, "Is it like 'red-velvet' bad or 'devils-food-cake' bad?"

Jason raises an eyebrow at the names but says nothing.

"It's worse." Damian says gravely, glancing around out of pure paranoia, as if Dick Grayson himself was listening in on their conversations. "Delicacies is branching out. Into _coffee_."

There's a weighted silence in the room before Cullen throws up his arms, "Well, we're fucked."

"Can they _do_ that? They're a specialty cake store, not a fucking coffee shop." Stephanie folds her arms over her large stomach.

"_Dick_ Grayson does whatever the hell he wants," Tim sighs, putting his hands on his hips, "This is just what we need."

"We should sabotage them." Cullen says darkly, "Gotham City Slums style."

Jason points to him with a nod, "I like that."

"I can get us some black clothes," Stephanie promises, "I know a guy."

"_Guys_," Tim interrupts, "We are not going to sabotage their place, we could be _arrested_ for that." He holds up a hand to silence Jason before the protest even begins, "And don't talk about your cop connections, they wouldn't help."

"…how well do you two know each other again?" Jaime asks.

Damian prepares to respond but Jason talks over him, "We just had a little heart-to-heart the other day, is all."

"Yeah," Tim agrees, "But back to the matter at hand, if Dick thinks he can branch out into coffee, we can't stop him. We'll just have to put out more ads and such."

"Should we cater that birthday party?" Cullen asks, "I know we don't like birthday parties but the people who wanted it are pretty famous. They could put our name out there."

"Our name _is_ out there," Tim sighs, "The problem is getting people to come to this neighborhood."

"There are worse neighborhoods." Jaime says, "What's the problem?"

"We're a little out of the way." Tim shrugs, "People don't want to make the side trip all the way down here when Delicacies is in the middle of the shopping district."

"People are fucking lazy," Stephanie grumbles.

"Lazy fucking people!" Cullen agrees, raising a fist.

"Stop saying 'fucking', it doesn't make your points more relevant." Damian scowls.

"_You_ would _fucking_ know," Cullen retorts, leaning over to high-five Stephanie for the horrible comeback.

Damian shakes his head, making his strange little scoffing noise that none of them can imitate properly.

Tim rolls his shoulder back, sighing. "Well, thanks for the intel Damian, but I'm sure we'll think of something. We always do. Now, I need Cullen, Jason, and Stephanie off my clock. Get out of here."

"Yes boss," Stephanie rolls her eyes, standing from the chair. "Come on Cullen, I'll give you a ride."

"I have the car today."

"No you don't."

"But-"

"Don't question me. Just come. _Shh_. Just come."

Tim blinks at them, "I do not want to get a call to bail any of you out of jail."

:::

"Welcome to Delicacies, how many are we seating today?"

Jason keeps an arm slung around Cullen's shoulders so the boy can't chicken out (like he's already tried to do three times since he realized where Stephanie was driving them), "Three."

The hostess beams brightly, grabbing three menus from the podium and waving at them, "Right this way."

Stephanie follows with a prideful walk while Jason drags Cullen along. "We should not be here! Tim will kill us!" Cullen whispers harshly.

"Relax, he doesn't have to know. I just want to see what the fuss is about."

The hostess seats them, smile never leaving her face as she leaves them to their own devices. Stephanie slips into the booth, opening the menu. "Shit, this is all _cake_."

Cullen sighs, sliding into the seat across from her, "The third page is assorted cookies and brownies."

Stephanie lowers the menu as Jason pulls up a chair from a nearby table to swing around and straddle, "How do you know that?"

Cullen blanches, "Er…I _may_…have used to come here a lot."

"For what reasons?" Stephanie quirks an eyebrow.

Jason whistles lowly, "A traitor in our midst."

"I am _not_," Cullen snaps, "I just used to be interested in this guy from my Calc class who worked here so I came in a lot. He wasn't interested back and I was embarrassed so it's been a while since I've been back and I haven't eaten here since Tim hired me, _okay_! _God_!"

"Who's the guy? Garfield? Bart?" Stephanie lists off the names as if they were on a hitlist in her mind, which, they may be.

"Vic Stone," Cullen flushed, opening his own menu, "He's muscular. I had a phase."

"If you like muscular guys, what draws you to Jaime?"

Cullen splutters, "W-what? Jaime's just a nice guy! And_ he's_ muscular too, just in a different way."

"Uh-huh. Jaime's just a nice guy," Stephanie mimics to Jason, "Admit you want to jump his bones and I'll stop questioning you."

"What?"

"Hey there," A chipper voice sounds behind Jason. They turn to face the waitress. "I'm Kara and I'll be your waitress today," She says with a slight accent. "What can I get y'all to drink and is this on one check?"

"One check, please," Stephanie smiles without showing teeth. "And I'll have water."

"You got beer?" Jason asks, craning his head back.

"We got a house brew," Kara suggests, shrugging slightly.

"That's fine."

The waitress looks at Cullen while Stephanie gapes at Jason, mouthing '_house brew'_ like it personally offends her.

"I'll have the macchiato," Cullen shrugs slightly.

Stephanie waits until Kara walks away to smack Cullen with the menu. "You _are_ a traitor."

"Please stop hitting me," Cullen sighs, pushing his indigo-colored hair away from his face.

Stephanie leans back, looking around at the frankly impressive layout of the store, folding her arms with a cross expression.

"Can't find a flaw?"

"Shut up. I'm still looking," Stephanie tells Jason as she scowls at the table.

"Uh, guys?" Cullen is looking over the top of the booth towards the kitchen entrance. "We have a problem."

"What problem?" Stephanie twists in her seat to see, "What is it?"

Jason leans back in his seat to get a better glimpse. "Is that…Damian?"

Sure enough, Damian is leaning between the window separating the room from the kitchen, elbows resting on the ledge of the opening, seemingly in deep conversation with someone leaning in from the other side.

"Is that…Dick Grayson!?" Stephanie's voice raises an octave, travelling across the whole café (could they even call it that anymore?).

Dick and Damian both look in their direction and Dick's eyes fill with recognition, head tilting slightly in confusion at their presence Damian scowls, turning slightly their way.

"What do we do?" Stephanie asks hurriedly.

"Run?" Jason suggests.

"Run away!" Stephanie announces loudly, clambering out of the booth and running from the room as fast as a five-month pregnant woman _can_ run. Cullen and Jason dart after her, ducking under trays of cakes and coffee, out into the chilled November air towards wherever the hell Stephanie parked. They catch up to her easily, laughter already on their lips.

"That was," Cullen begins, "A terrible idea, but what the fuck was Damian doing there?"

"A traitor in our midst," Stephanie repeats Jason's words from earlier. "Tim will want to hear about this."

"But then he'll know _we_ went." Cullen frowns.

"Exactly."

They turn around, eyes falling on Damian, who looks much less winded than any of them. He leisurely puts his hands in his jacket pockets, leaning back on his heels. "I propose an agreement."

"What kind of agreement?" Stephanie hedges, narrowing her eyes.

"A silence on both our parts. We never saw each other.

The three exchange glances, "Okay," Stephanie says slowly, "_If_ you tell us what you were doing there."

Damian blinks, "I could tell you that, or you could agree to my proposal because I have much more dirt on the three of you than you have on me."

Stephanie gapes, Cullen groans, and Jason lifts an eyebrow, "What the hell kind of dirt do you have on _me_?"

"I've seen the text messages." Damian says, tone declaring the argument in his favor. Jason falls momentarily silent, scowling.

"_Little_ bastard."

"Do we have an accord?" Damian asks.

"Yes, dammit," Stephanie groans.

"We have a fucking accord." Cullen snorts. "_Ha_. Fucking."


	4. Tiramisu

**High T for implied content at end.**

* * *

Jaime Reyes doesn't know very much about his coworkers. He's only been working at the bakery for a few months now (thank god he adapts easily), but he already knows it's a good thing that Jason is going to be taking over for Stephanie when she goes out on maternity leave. He's not suited to be head baker, especially since he's got college to worry about. His schedule is strange enough to allow him long hours in the middle of the day for work, but otherwise leaves him pretty drained.

Which is why he's not expecting to be at Cupcake Nation on his _off_ day of all days, but Khaji Da and Milagro wanted to go, and refusing those two always ends up being a bad idea in the long run.

"Hey, Jaime," Stephanie greets him from one of the two-seater booth, carefully unwrapping a cupcake. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah, Khaji and Milagro wanted sweets for some reason, and I get discounts here if I buy, so." Jaime shrugs, "_Lo demás es historia_."

Stephanie nods even though Jaime knows she can't speak Spanish. "If you're willing to wait a few minutes, Jason should have the new batch of Tiramisu out and ready."

"Sounds good." Jaime looks around the empty room as Milagro presses her face to the glass and stares at all of the cupcakes. Khaji keeps an uninterested eye on her, just in case. "Who's all working today?"

"Tim is in back taking inventory. Jason and I are baking, but Cass got sick so we had to send her home. Cullen is changing in back. Thank god Harper was in the area when we called him in."

"Cass isn't working?" Milagro asks from the glass, lip jutting out in a pout, "I like Cass."

"Cullen is nice too," Stephanie smiles at Jaime's sister, "You'll like him just as much. Your brother certainly does."

"What?" Jaime flushes, staring at Cass in silent panic.

Stephanie shrugs and takes a bite of her cupcake, "CULLEN!" She yells, wiping some frosting from her lip, "CUSTOMERS!"

Khaji Da glances at Jaime, "_The_ Cullen?"

"Shut up," Jaime scowls at him childishly. Khaji Da, unfortunately, knows all about his tiny crush on his coworker. Khaji Da pretty much knows everything about him, come to think of it.

The door to the kitchen swings open and Cullen hurries out, haphazardly tying the half-apron around his waist, "Sorry, sorry. How can I-" He looks up, "Oh. Hey, Jaime."

"Hey, _hermano_." Jaime leans back on his heels, "We're waiting for Jason's new stuff."

Before Cullen can say anything, Milagro pipes up, "What if I don't _like_ it?"

"You'll like it." Jaime frowns at her. "You like anything with sugar in it."

Milagro sticks her tongue out at him but otherwise stays quiet. Stephanie stands up, brushing off her hands, "Jason? Cupcakes?"

The kitchen door opens again, this time revealing Jason with a tray full of decorated, wrapped cupcakes. They're still warm, as far as Jaime can tell, and smell amazing. "I'm right here, blondie. You don't have to yell."

Stephanie makes a rude hand gesture accompanied by a wide grin, "Don't sass me, boy."

"I haven't even turned my sass _on_, cutie-pie."

"What is happening?" Cullen stares at the two of them in mild repulsion.

"Next you know they'll be giving each other 'good game' pats after a successful recipe," Tim says nonchalantly, walking around Jason from the kitchen. "How are you today, Jaime?"

"Fine, I guess. You?" Jaime shrugs, shoulders staying up.

"G-"

The door to the store is pushed open, little bell ringing ominously. A small group of people walk in, all dressed in blue hoodies, hoods up, and black jeans. The only one that isn't is trailing behind them, built like a line-backer and looking exasperated.

Cullen blinks at the newcomer, "Vic?"

"Hey, Cullen." Victor Stone replies tiredly.

"Who are you people supposed to be?" Jason lifts an eyebrow, setting the tray of cupcakes within reach of Milagro, who definitely notices.

"We're the crew of Delicacies," A girl tanned so dark she's almost orange replies, "Are _you_ the punks who came into our restaurant the other day?"

"Fucking knew that would come back to bite our asses," Cullen grumbles, folding his arms morosely.

"We came to give you a taste of Delicacies hospitality." A boy around Tim's age speaks up, hair peeking out from his hood. "You crash our site, we crash yours."

"If you crash anything," Tim says bluntly, "I'll call the cops _and_ I'll sue."

The group shifts, sharing glances before nodding curtly at each other. "Fine, then. Option B. We propose a bake off. Your bakers, our bakers. Culinary school on Main. Come tomorrow night at midnight unless you're too chicken to show up."

They turn as a unit and leave the bakery, door swinging shut behind them. Tim stares after them for a long moment, lips thin. He frowns at Stephanie, "This. This is your fault. Fix it."

Without another word, he turns and strides back in the kitchen.

There's a long period of silence, broken only by Jason "Where the hell did the cupcakes go?"

Milagro giggles.

:::

"Where are you taking me, woman?"

Stephanie shushes him, heading up the stairs of the apartment complex. It's an average building about a block away from Cupcake Nation, and Stephanie had dragged Jason along with her as soon as the store closed. First, of course, she had made him carry her bags while they made a pit stop at a quaint winery and bought nearly half a grand worth of liquor.

"Tim is stressed out for, well, whatever reason he's stressed out for. And it's kind of our fault because we went to Delicacies which apparently inspired the events that occurred today," Stephanie walks down the hall, fishing a set of keys out of her purse and flipping through them. "We're here to cheer him up. Apologize. Whatever."

"Are you sure he'll be okay with that?"

"We're bringing wine and his favorite movie, I think he can get over it." Stephanie stops in front of an unfamiliar door, sliding the key into the lock.

Jason glances around, "I thought there was an apartment above the shop. Doesn't Tim live there?"

"He used to, but he got sick of it. We rented it out to Cass for a while, but it's vacant right now." Stephanie opens the door, peeking inside, "Tim! I'm coming in, so you better be decent!"

Jason snorts as she walks in, hefting the bag of wine up before following her. She directs him to the living room, instructing him to divest his shoes, while she dims the lights, kicks the door closed, and relocks it. Stephanie keeps one hand on her stomach as she disappears down the hall. Jason doesn't follow.

He sits on the carpet, leaning back against the couch. The set-up is different from when Tim lived above the bakery (well, back then it wasn't open, so when Tim lived above an empty floor), but it's more to Tim's taste. Neutral colors, low lights, comfortable furniture, and from what Jason can count, at least two full bookshelves in the living room alone.

He looks up when the doorknob rattles and unlocks. The door is pushed open and Tim walks in, leaning back against the door to close it while he kicks off his shoes.

"Guess we beat you back."

Tim's head snaps up, eyes wide, "Holy _fuck_-! Jason, what the hell?"

In reply, Jason tosses him a bottle of wine. Tim catches it against his chest and holds it out to read the label. He sighs, looking around the room. "Stephanie."

"Tim!" Stephanie is coming back down the hallway, "There you are. We brought goodies," She sings.

"Why?"

"To apologize for what happened today. And to cheer you up."

"Because breaking and entering is a _great_ way to do that."

"It's not B and E if you have a key." Steph says resolutely. "Now go sit down. I brought Breakfast at Tiffany's."

"That _can't_ be your favorite movie," Jason stares at him in half-amusement, half-pity.

"It's not." Tim frowns. "It's not bad either, though, and I distinctly remember _you_ liking it."

Stephanie sighs, "I couldn't find Midnight in Paris. The video place only has one copy and it was gone. I'll buy it for you for your birthday."

Tim shakes his head, heading to the kitchen to grab a corkscrew before joining Jason on the floor. Stephanie commandeers the couch, stretching out and waving the DVD case at Tim. They put in the movie and open the wine, and by the time the movie is half way through, Stephanie is asleep and two of the wine bottles are empty.

"So," Jason hasn't had any wine. If Tim remembers right, his choice of drink runs in the beer family, "you moved."

"Yeah. I only lived above the shop because we had to buy the whole building." Tim runs his fingers across a partially empty bottle.

"It suits you better here." Jason waves his hand, "More…_you_."

Tim snorts, taking a small sip, "Do you still live in the Narrows?"

"Yep," Jason pops the '_p_', "I think Cullen lives across the street from me. Kid has a dangerous neighbor, though."

"The Russian or the guy fleeing the FBI?"

"Neither. New guy moved in. We're all pretty sure he was a drug lord in Brazil."

"You need to _move_," Tim shakes his head with a slight laugh.

Jason chuckles, "Probably." He glances at Stephanie, "I should head out. Getting back to the Narrows at this time of night is asking to get shanked."

"You can stay, if you want." Tim pushes his hair behind his ear, "Wouldn't want your shanking on my hands."

"Nah. Couch is already taken, and I'm not making a pregnant woman move for me."

Tim's lips quirk at that, "You could stay in my room."

Jason pauses, "…are you suggesting what I _think_ you're suggesting? Or is that the wine talking?"

"Wine doesn't get me drunk, Jason." Tim almost rolls his eyes, "Look. It's…well, this is going to sound horrible, but we're both adults, and mature, and unattached. This could just be a…thing."

"And you aren't worried about this affecting our 'work relationship'?"

"The air quotes were unnecessary, but no. I'd like to think we're more professional than that."

Jason blinks at him, tilting his head, "Huh. You've _changed_ a bit."

Tim lifts an eyebrow, "Good or bad?"

Jason stands, holding out his hand to Tim, "I guess I'm about to find out."

Tim takes his hand and lets Jason pull him to his feet. He gathers the collar of Jason's shirt in his fist and pulls, angling his head for a kiss that tastes of smoke and berries. Jason licks his lips as Tim pulls away, "What kind of wine were you drinking?"

"Blackberry," Tim lets him go, taking a step back and shifting his weight towards the hallway. "So?"

Jason steps around him, hooking a finger through one of Tim's belt loops and pulling him along. It's as much of an answer as Tim needs.


End file.
